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Going green is not about being altruistic; it is about making wise business
decisions, especially when it comes to data centers, which thrive on being cost
efficient. This is something that often gets missed in the excitable information
overdose that vendor companies are feeding enterprises today
Alot has been spoken, written and talked about how the environment around us
is being affected by the carbon footprint each of us create. This is all the
more true for large organizations which are in growth mode and are investing in
expanding their presence by building up data centers to run their businesses.
But while vendors touch upon the need to safeguard the environment one key
message that they fail to hit home is that going green or becoming energy
efficient actually makes business sense. There is a need to create an
environment of accountability for every bit of resource used. So what is a
green data center? It can be described as a data center in which the
mechanical, lighting, electrical and computer systems are designed for maximum
energy efficiency and minimum environmental impact, according to Prasoon
Srivastava, CEO, Ctrl S Datacentres.
As simple as 1, 2, 3?
There is no single technology that can drive green adoption in data centers.
Said Sandeep Nair, MD, Emerson Network India, “To be truly green you have to
start from the processors and work your way upwards to see how much heat is
generated and how you can efficiently bring down the power that is used to run
these equipment and the cooling used to keep them running.”
The first step towards going green is to plan utilization of power sensibly.
This can be best achieved by consolidating server, storage and network
infrastructure. For every 100KV of power used in a data center 60 percent of it
is used to cool the equipment. This means that just 30 percent is used for
running the IT equipment! “The amount of power you can draw in a data center is
fixed. So if a solution provider (SP) wants to grow the IT infrastructure, where
does he get the power from?” asked Durgadutt Nedungadi, Director-Marketing and
Alliances, HP (India).
Building efficiency
Over the past two years, it has been noted that facilities and IT have
started working together to improve the efficiency of data centers. Initially
both were working with their backs more or less to each other. Today
organizations are trying to bring about efficiencies across the board; be it in
the IT equipment, applications or policies.
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| Green data center can be
described as a data center in which the mechanical, lighting, electrical and
computer systems are designed for maximum energy efficiency and minimum
environmental impact |
But at the same time, it is ironical that often SP are not aware about the
direct electricity cost of the equipment in a data center nor are they aware of
the cost of cooling equipment in isolation. “This ignorance results in incorrect
cost-optimization which in turn leads to misallocation of resources and energy
waste in many traditional data centers,” noted Srivastava.
This is illustrated by the results of a survey done by the Experton Group
Study on Green IT that was released in November 2007. It showed that of a sample
of 98 surveyed companies 93 percent of the IT managers were unaware of the
energy consumption in KW and Euro of the equipment in the data center.
When it comes to building efficiencies in the IT equipment, one has to start
at the basics which means start with the processors and then work their way
upwards. Power consumption should also be checked at various levels to see how
it can be controlled at different points. Besides this, the equipment should be
consolidated to reduce its footprint and ensure simplified one-source
management.
“At the rack level, efficiency can be achieved with enhanced levels of
density of the racks and intelligent control of power consumption,” said
Srivastava while talking at Data Center 2008, an industry event held in
Bangalore and Mumbai recently. He added that efficiency across data centers can
be achieved by having a policy-based workload rebalancing, ultra efficient
facilities and detailed power metering.
Building a green data center
SPs should bear in mind while building data centers? For starters it is
imperative they adopt the best practices in data center energy efficiency as
mentioned above. This will ensure a reduction in operational costs from energy
use in the physical infrastructure and keep the door open for Y-o-Y improve-ment
in the center. Often 40 percent to 50 percent of the inefficiency inside data
center is linked to lack of best practices deployment. Therefore, there is no
doubt that the savings accrued from adopting best practices can be further fed
into the business, either for expanding the physical infrastructure or offering
more services.
The second and most important thing to do is adopt an innovative approach.
For instance with power draw options coming down, there are companies like
Netmagic Solutions which are seeking alternatives for generating more power
including investment in biomass.
Quick tips
Virtualization can be a savior when it comes bringing in better computing
performance at lower power consumption. Srivastava also advises that SPs should
factor energy management in their service level agreements with customers. Some
other tips he offered included the usage of raised floor cooling which gives
more space for the cold air to navigate and ensures better cooling. The next is
the creation of hot side - cold side aisle so that the temperatures can be
controlled in one particular corner of the room.
“Load balance the cooling units and run them to their highest efficiency.
Additionally, match the cooling technologies to the server types deployed in the
center,” he added. Besides this, SPs should provision for longer rows of racks
and seal cable cutouts. Since water is a ready resource it is a good idea to
install water-cooled equipment and racks because for an equal volume water can
remove 3,600 times more heat than air. Cabling can also play an important role
when it comes to making a data center more cost effective.
“We insist that our customers use Secure Cabling Systems because it has
common access points that reduce the risk of inadvertent access as well as
reduce chances of unauthorized connections to the wrong network,” said Mohamed
Shahid Khan, AM-System Engineering Application, Tyco Electronics.
There are these and other ways and means as well that can help make a data
center green. It is just a matter of asking for it from the right sources.
Vinita Bhatia
vinitavs@cybermedia.co.in Page(s) 1
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